


hold the line

by VolunteerFieryDantooinian



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, Pre-Canon, Sabine Joins The Crew, baby Sabby has a dirty mouth, post-Gorse, pre-ezra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-08 05:05:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10379160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolunteerFieryDantooinian/pseuds/VolunteerFieryDantooinian
Summary: Sabine fucks up and punches someone for calling her cute (or tries to)





	

Sabine frowned slightly in concentration, flipping her jet-black locks out of her eyes. She really needed a haircut, she thought. Her hair was almost down to her shoulders now, roots blackish-brown, with the scent of bleach barely permeating her clothes.

The tag on the wall wasn't quite done yet, the sunburst of gold and peach bright against the red Starbird, which she'd smeared to look like blood. She added a couple curves of shadow to it, the smell of paint thick in her nostrils, and it made her dizzy. Stepping back, she admired her work. Perfect. The imps are going to flip their shit when they find it, she thought, and chuckled at the idea.

It was getting dark on this awful backwater planet, and Sabine thought she should probably find someplace to sleep before the creatures the night surely holds came out. She hadn't slept in force-knows-how-long, but she wasn't tired, not now; she felt utterly charged with energy. It was like her soul was humming, trying to escape from her body.

"Hey! You! You aren't supposed to be here, and by the looks of it.." Sabine started dramatically, reeled around to see the source of the sudden voice. It was an angry-looking imperial officer, who sported a monstrous glare directed towards her artwork.

"So you're the one who's been vandalizing our base, hmm? I'm taking you in, miss." Her heart skipped a beat and she started running, grabbing her bag hastily and stumbling over the uneven ground. In her state, though, she couldn't really outrun an adult, much less an imperial officer, and she tripped hard over a rock and went flying. She fell hard, and a starburst of pain lanced through her ankle. It probably wasn't broken, or even sprained, but it hurt enough to throw her off.

The officer had caught up with her, eyes blazing, and Sabine threw a punch, quick and hard, but only hard enough to daze her. She kicked her hard in the side, and Sabine doubled over, stars spotting in front of her. The imperial punched her, hard, and kicked her again. Sabine could taste blood in her mouth as her head slammed against the ground, and everything went black.

 

\--

 

Sabine's eyes fluttered open and she let out a quiet groan, a headache forming behind her eyes. Her mouth was dry and she felt like utter, absolute shit. She'd had her ass handed to her by an imperial, who was certainly going to cover up her art she had spent an hour on. Sabine sat up and kind of regretted it, because oh force, everything hurt, and she felt like she was gonna cry. There was no Ketsu to get her out of this one; she'd left about a week ago when a job had gone bad.

She was dizzy, nauseatingly so, and she took in a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. Sabine could feel a panic attack coming on, a bad one, and she buried her face in her knees, taking in huge breaths and thinking about how she was going to die.

Her mother's voice came back to her, _you're no daughter of mine. I'm grounding you if I see you with that Onyo girl one more time. No, you can't stay here. Why don't you talk about any boys?_ "Shut UP!" Sabine hissed through gritted teeth, pain lancing through her head, and she started to cry, shoulders hitching violently as she remembered the day she left the Academy. And she remembered Ketsu, how her eyes lingered a little too long on the older girl. She tried to think about nice things like that, but it just made her think about how she felt when she left, and only sobbed harder.

It felt like no oxygen was coming to her as she took in a shallow, wheezing breath, and suddenly there was an loud noise. Sabine continued gasping and struggling with her thoughts. Silent, hot tears tracked down her face as she felt dizziness ooze into her mind, into her body. She hurt, so bad, and she didn't wanna die and she was tired and and-

She let out a pained, frustrated noise, and a few minutes later she heard footsteps, surprisingly fast, and she swallowed back the fear rising in her throat.

"If you're going to kill me, make it quick." Her voice shook as she tried to sound confident, rebellious. She just sounded tired and frightened, and squeezed her own wrist hard, hard enough to hurt, and her fingers shook. 

"Woah, I'm not going to kill you." A man was standing outside of her cell, tall, with long, dark hair that was pulled back and strikingly green eyes that appeared to be made of sea glass. A calm sense of power seemed to radiate off of him, she could feel it, and it frightened her. "Come on, let's get you out of here." he fiddled with the control panel outside of the cell and her door slid open with a  _wshhh._ She hesitated for a second, then reached under her helmet and rubbed her eyes, and pushed herself up off of the floor. Dizziness washed over her, cold and shallow and overwhelming, and she muttered a curse in Mando'a as she felt something in her chest practically  _shift,_ heated pain prickling up her side. 

Her vision cleared a little as she took a deep breath, and walked out of her cell, crossing her arms and turning to face her rescuer. "Come on, we have to make a break for it before the guards get down here. Rebels like you and I? We're practically dead if they catch us." He warned, and she simply nodded and ran after him as they navigate the maze of corridors that is the base. Her ankle only hurt a little, but she could barely keep her balance and her side was still all hot and prickly and painful, like she'd been electrocuted. 

A  _rebel,_ he'd called her, and himself, and a wave of warm, dizzy excitement washed over her. Was he looking for crewmates? Who even was he? Being called a rebel by someone else was foreign and exciting, and it felt right. 

She remembered Ketsu, and something clicked.  _Rebel._ There was a certain glory to it. 

Her side was starting to hurt a little too much to bear when they finally slowed, her hands trembling vaguely. An odd sort of breathlessness had settled in her chest, and she felt weird, the kind of weird where your skin is just kind of crawly. Like she was being watched.

Suddenly the feeling spiked and she whirled around, hitting someone hard in the face with her elbow and kicking them right at their chin, throwing whoever it was off of their feet and flying into the wall. She let out a shaky breath and opened her eyes. It had been the officer that caught her, blaster still in hand as she lay inert on the floor. 

"Now it's my turn to tell  _you_ to run." Sabine gasped, and they raced down the remaining few corridors to the exit, and as soon as they were outside she grabbed a randomly pigmented bomb out of her bag, armed it, and threw it as hard and far as she could at the base, landing somewhere on the roof.

A large freighter descended from the sky, and force, it was beautiful. Quadruple thrusters and a jumpship, hexagonal, with a round cockpit (nice viewports for viewing her handiwork) and about 3 turrets. It could use some more color, she thought, but it was beautiful. The docking ramp slid down quickly, and her rescuer motioned swiftly to jump on. 

She jumped up and her hand caught the metal end, stinging a little, and her fingers slipped, and her rescuer grabbed her arms and easily pulled her up. His hands were strong and gloved,(the kind she trusted) setting her down on the ramp, and they scrambled inside as it started to slide shut. Sabine scaled the ladder out of the cargo bay with surprising quickness for someone with 3 prosthetic fingers and a bag slung over her shoulder. She barely saw her rescuer climb up he was so fast.

They walked inside what looked like a sitting room, with a couch and a holochess table, plus a few extra chairs. There's another ladder, and before she could climb it, the ship jerked and someone yelled a very nasty swear word in Ryl. 

"We're being tailed, I'm guessing. Alright, pick a turret, any turret. You know how to shoot, right?" The man asks. Sabine snorts.

"Of course I do." She races around the ship until she finds one and jumps into the seat, locking onto the nearest TIE and firing, getting it in two shots. Then another goes down, and another, and finally there's nothing but sky in her turret sight. She waits a minute or two to make sure they're gone, pulls out her detonator, and yells "Take THAT, empire!"

She pressed the button and there was a muffled sound, and an explosion of red and pink and yellow filled her with something wonderful. Like she belonged there. 

Sabine climbed out of her turret and scaled the ladder she had seen before, that she supposed led to the cockpit. A twi'lek sat at the controls, frowning slightly at the C1 droid next to her. There was an alien whose species she'd never seem before, with piercing eyes and an odd nose, purple and twice her size. Effectively kind of terrifying, she thought.

"Kan-" The twi'lek spun their chair around to face her, and a confused look fell across her face. She was wearing an orange jumpsuit with very light armor, and her skin was a gentle shade of green. Her eyes were piercingly so, especially as she studied Sabine. "Was that  _you_ that just did that?" 

Sabine laughed. "Yep. What kind of artist would I be if I didn't leave a tag?" The woman looks at her with a look of awe. The alien sitting in one of the cockpit seats chuckled and gave her a thumbs-up. 

"Kanan, did you see that?" The woman called, most likely to the man who had rescued Sabine. She heard someone running and suddenly he was climbing up the ladder, always unsettlingly fast. 

"Did I see that? That was amazing!" He exclaimed, giving Sabine a look of respect and almost endearment. "You took down those ties like they were nothing."

Sabine shrugged modestly and made an indifferent sound. She was a little rusty with cannons, but a little target practice had helped immensely. "Who are you, anyways?" The alien asked, in an odd accent that she hadn't heard before.

"My name is Sabine Wren." She responded, sliding off her helmet and fixing her hair in one fluid motion.

Everything went silent.

"Kanan, did you realize she was a teenager?" The woman gave him a laughing look. 

"No! I mean, she didn't exactly talk a lot, and a lot of people aren't very tall. I just figured.. You know, she wouldn't be a cute little kid." 

"Just because I'm not an adult doesn't mean I can't kick people's asses." She muttered, glaring at the ground, and a wave of exhausted resentment shot through her, and she swung at him. He caught her fist before she could hit him, and she frowned, then started laughing nearly uncontrollably. "I'm sorry, f-force, I just.. Have no emotional control." Kanan gave a sharp grin, and there was no acid in it. 

"Nah, it's ok, kiddo. I did the same thing when I was your age." 

"Kid, Sabine, we never said you couldn't kick imperial asses, but you're so.. small." The alien snorted, and she gave him a withering glare. 

"Can I join your crew?" She blurted out, and covered her mouth quickly.  The twilek looked at her with soft eyes, considering, and she glanced over at Kanan, and they seemed to come to some sort of decision. Even the little astromech chipped in, making an odd little "wub" noise.

"Alright. But you have to be careful. The empire wants you to think they're nicer to teenage rebels, but they're not." The woman shuddered. Sabine felt ice solidify in her stomach, fear creeping up her spine. 

"I know." She mumbled, looking down at the ground. 

"I never introduced myself, did I? My name is Hera Syndulla, and my astromech is Chopper. Kanan Jarrus is the one that brought you here, I'm guessing." She explained, and the droid gave a little noise of greeting. She laughed. 

"I'm Garazeb Orrelios, but call me Zeb, kid." The alien said, and nodded at her. She nodded back. Her adrenaline was starting to wear off, slowly but surely, and she hurt all over, exhausted. 

"You look tired, Sabine; go pick out an empty bunk and maybe try to get some rest, ok?" Kanan said, teal eyes gentle. He could read her easily. 

She nodded and shouldered her bag again, taking the first bunk she found that was empty, and set her stuff down with a heavy sigh. She hastily grabbed her pillow and a spare set of sheets and made her bed, exhaustion dripping through her. She wrapped a blanket around her, and even though she was utterly exhausted, she found she couldn't sleep. Sabine felt all tingly, an uncomfortable cold settled over her, and she grabbed her sketchbook and pencil. 

She headed into the sitting room and sat down heavily on the couch, and began to draw.

She drew mindlessly for a few minutes and then looked down, heart closing in on itself. It was Ketsu, eyes blanked out but beautiful, wearing the dress she'd worn in that club on Mandalore. Sabine sighed frustratedly and closed her book, climbing into the cockpit. She sat down in the chair closest to the hyperdrive, exhausted, and Hera turned to look at her. 

"Are you ok? You look like something is bothering you. Are you hurt?" She inquired gently. 

"I 'dunno. I'm really tired and all.." She paused for a second, trying to find the right term. "Shaky. Like I almost got shot or something. My head hurts. So does everything else." She mumbled, not making eye contact. "It's ok, it's fine." Sabine turned away from Hera and stared out into the empty blue of hyperspace lanes, swirling and bright.

"No it's not. If you're hurt, you need to tell me." The woman's voice was gentle, almost maternal, and she stood. "Wait here." 

Sabine did what she said, hypnotized and staring off into hyperspace, half-falling asleep. Her eyes were sliding shut, and she was utterly exhausted, sleep seeping into her mind. The next thing she knew she had half-sprawled across the chair and snapped back to full consciousness in a second, not wanting to sleep. She knew she would feel worse when she woke up. Sabine half jumped awake again and yelled at least 3 different curse words in Mando'a and 2 in basic as she tumbled out of the chair.

Hurried footsteps clattered across the lower floor and up the ladder, and quick as lightning Hera was kneeling next to her. "Are you okay? What happened? Also, those are some very.. Uncouth words for a teenager to be saying." She laughed. 

"I'm fine, I just.. Fell out of my chair." Sabine looked at the ground, face red. "I was half asleep and I suddenly kind of jolted awake, and I fell." 

"Alright. Can you tell me what's wrong? How you hurt yourself before?" Hera gave her a soft look, and Sabine nodded. 

"I got my ass kicked by an imperial. I got kicked a couple times, and she punched me, and I faceplanted into the dirt. Then I had a panic attack in my cell and escaped with Kanan, and reflexively knocked out an imperial," She recounted. "My ribs hurt and I have a headache and I feel terrible. End of story." Hera frowned, clearly thinking for a second, and rummaged through the first aid kit. 

"Do you think your ribs are bad enough for a bacta patch, or general painkillers will be able to help with them too, dear? Do you want ice?" Her eyes were gentle and soft, and her voice was even gentler. 

"Ice and painkillers will do." Sabine mumbled, and Hera handed her 2 capsules and an ice pack she'd snapped. Sabine swallowed them dry with little difficulty and pushed herself up, climbing back into the chair and sandwiching the ice between her ribs and the arm of the chair. "Thanks."

"Of course, kiddo. You're hurt." Hera gave her a soft smile that lit up her whole face, and sat back down in the captain's chair. "Tell me if you need anything else, ok?"

"Alright." Sabine mumbled, the meds already starting to kick in, and she leaned back, eyes sliding shut as sleep fogged her brain. Damn, she was so exhausted. Sabine exhaled softly and let the sleep take her, like waves sliding against the hot sand, seeping into everything. This was likely the best she'd felt in a really, really long time. 

Sleep was nice.


End file.
